tsunami

Ripples in a pond. Such a small idea that could literally wipe out neighborhoods, towns, even entire islands when you label those ripples as a tsunami. I caught wind of the massive earthquake in Chile last night (their morning) while I was watching CNN and my ears quickly perked up when I heard Pacific Islands. Wait, THAT'S ME!

It's amazing to think that a tragic natural disaster in one continent can effect a little island in the Philippines on the other side of the world. We got the safety and security text from our SSC guy in Manila to let us know that we were in a Level 2 Tsunami warning, and like the rest of the Pacific basin countries, it became a wait-and-see game. Fortunately my site is on the western side of Leyte, which I'm guessing would be the safest place to be aside for the mountainous center of the island.

The day is now over, and we just got the text from SSC letting us know that the warning is over. I haven't heard of any major, or really minor for that matter, reports of damage in the Philippines. All is well.

I did read however in today's Philippine Inquirer that in 1960 when Chile had their major 9.5 earthquake, it was reported that 24 hours after the quake the Philippines had waves measuring in at up to 6 meters. Those were some major ripples. I'm glad today turned out the way it did.

you should come visit me

Yeah, it's a pretty rough life sometimes...

Can you imagine spending your day on an island where you don't have to think, seas have more than four shades of blue in them, and the sand has a delightful pink hue to it. I mean, I'll admit it, it was REALLY difficult to spend the day as such a beach with my friend who came down for the weekend. VERY VERY DIFFICULT!!!

GRRR, I mean, this is just SUCH a hard way to spend my mid-twenties...

I'M NOT LISTENING

Some awesome things I've caught myself saying the past few days:


*Francisco, take the plastic bag off your head!

*Get you feet off the window!

*Don't jump out the window!

*Keep your arms inside the window!

*Don't spit in the classroom!


I mean, I've said good things too, but these stick out the most in my head.

Marshmellow Friends

Prom 2010

Third Year Students

Graduating Class 2010

The end of the school year is quickly approaching, which means that PROM is in the air! Last night was the big night for the third and fourth year students. This was my second prom, and by far the coolest thing for me personally, was the fact that I...after so many months of being in country and show at thing up early...I mean, American time... for everything... actually arrived around the same time as the other teachers (a cool 19 minutes behind schedule)!

Did you hear me?! Yes, it's true! I used to wonder how everybody knew when to show up late at the same time, and I have adapted well enough to be late with the best of them! I think this shows some real personal growth, right?! :)



Prom was fun yet again. It was probably even more fun this year due to the fact that I had actually gotten a chance to teach and get to know the students who were this year's Third Year Class. So all my "sheets OF PAPER" boys were dressed up, including Rainier who was rocking a baby pink suit and title "Star of the Night." His costar was Queenie, who had a beautiful lavender ballgown. They were a cute little pair of peeps.



Really, the only sad part of the night was when I realized that I wasn't going to get to see my second year students dress up for Prom 2011. Guess we'll just have to set up some type of live Internet stream...cause yep, big news, Inopacan is supposed to get Internet within the next few months!

Sinulog Pictures

Each group that presents will have a Queen that is always holding a Santo Nino figure.

Costumes are AMAZING!

I think, and you can totally correct me if I'm wrong, but these might be "the heathens" before Santo Nino was introduced to the islands. Whoever they were, they were hilarious and fun to pose with.

One of the queens

The parade lasted for 9 hours as bands, dance troops and floats marched through Cebu City.

These were girls who were just about to preform at the grandstand where they would be judged. All presentation stops at noon for a lunch break. I loved their flowers!

Sinulog always has the best performers. Costumes, routines, and precision is key.

Saturday night during Sinulog. IT WAS PACKED!!

Mass on Saturday night of Sinulog. I've never been in such a densely packed crowd before. At the end of the service, the priests lead the crowd with "Viva Senior Santo Nino!" or "Viva Pit Senior!"

The men here are wearing malongs, which are found more in the Mindanao region of the country.

i don't know who 'they' is

They say that there are two seasons here, the dry season and the wet season. They say that the wet season is from October to June, and the rest is dry. I guess there's some general truth to this. As I've said before in other posts, there were points during January that were sunless for over a week stretch, but once the sun breaks through the weather could be any other day during that dry season. The only truth that I think you can say about the weather here is that no matter what month, you can count on it being hot.

Connie's Hot Scale:

November- December: It's Hot
January: Can't walk to school without Sweating Hot
February-March- It's so Frickin' Hot
April-July: I'll Drive 3 hours to Taclobon just to sit in the Airconditioned Mall Hot
August-October: I Think I can Make it till the New Year Hot

solution: halo halo.

don't knock cockfighting until you've lived next to a guy with over a dozen roosters in his front yard

I can't prove it, but while I was gone for Christmas vacation, I think the rooster population on my street may have quadrupled. This is probably the biggest hurdle I've had to get over since returning . I quickly readjusted to lack of aircon, crowded transportation, and work, but man, these roosters are about to drive me crazy. I've taken to counting the number of crows I hear in a 60 second time period. The other day, it was 9pm, and I heard 9 calls. Then at 11pm, I heard 10 calls. When it was 4:30 am the next morning, I got up to 35 rooster crows. It's almost like a continuous rooster call, because by the time one rooster finished, three other have already started.

My solution: Let's up the cockfighting folks.